Find Private Key

Find Private Key

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But first, let’s talk a little bit about what a Private Key is and why you need it.
A Private Key is an integral element of an SSL certificate to protect the data sent between the server where your website is located and connecting clients (such as a web browser). This key is used in conjunction with the Public Key, which is embedded in the SSL certificate itself. Together they are known as a key pair.
Basically, when data is sent from the website visitor’s browser, it is encrypted with the Public Key. This information can only be decrypted when it reaches the server with the related Private Key. An SSL certificate can only work with a key pair, as a Private Key cannot work without a Public Key and vice versa.
To activate your SSL, you will need to generate a Certificate Signing Request (CSR code) . With SSLs.com, you have the option of generating it automatically in-browser (which we will talk about in a bit), generating it on the server, or using an online tool (for example, decoder.link ). The CSR code is an encoded block of text which features information about the domain you wish to secure, the person or organization seeking to secure it, as well as the Public Key code that will be embedded in the SSL certificate issued by the Certificate Authority. The Private Key is generated at the same time as the CSR.
As you already learned above, the Public Key cannot work without a Private Key. So, if you cannot find the location or your Private Key once your SSL certificate is issued, you won’t be able to install it properly.
A Private Key is an integral part of having a working SSL, so it’s vital to know its location and to ensure that it’s kept in a safe place while you’re waiting for your SSL to be activated, whether that be on your private computer or the server your website is hosted on.
Now that you know about why a Private Key is so important and why you need to save it somewhere safe for SSL installation, let’s talk about how you can find your Private Key. We’ll cover Private Key location when it comes to three CSR generation methods: in-browser generation, generation via online tool, and generation on the server where your website is hosted.
This is when a CSR is generated on your browser, rather than on the server. On SSLs.com, this in-browser generator is called Auto-activate. This method can be used when activating any single-domain or wildcard SSL certificate. For multi-domain SSLs, you still need to use the server method.
While the Auto-activate method is pretty straightforward, the Private Key will be generated by your browser and saved to your computer rather than the server where your website is stored.
Therefore, it is vital that you remember the location where you save the Private Key on your device, as it won’t be stored in your SSLs.com account .
As we mentioned before, it can complicate things later on if you do not remember where you saved the Private Key.
If you already used this method to activate your SSL certificate and can’t remember where you saved the Private Key, unfortunately you will have to restart the process. You will need to generate a new CSR code and Private Key pair and then get your certificate reissued. Read this knowledgebase article to find out the process of getting your SSL reissued.
As an example, let’s go through the steps of how the Private Key is generated in-browser, and how it is downloaded.
If you don’t unzip the file during the process, it should be somewhere in your Downloads folder (or wherever your browser automatically saves files to). If you can’t find it, you will need to get your certificate reissued, and start the process again.
Another option for generating a CSR code is using an online tool. Generally, using third-party tools for this isn’t recommended because of the importance of keeping the Private Key confidential. Nobody else should have access to it. These kinds of tools should be used at your own discretion, and you should ensure they are trustworthy before you use them. If you choose to generate your CSR via an online generator, we recommend decoder.link .
When using this kind of tool, you will need to manually save both CSR and the Private Key codes to your computer by copying and pasting the keys to a text file. If you used this method and did not save the Private Key, you will need to generate a new CSR and reissue the SSL.
If you generated the CSR server-side, your Private Key will have been generated at the same time. In that case, the Private Key should be saved on the server already. The process of locating the Private Key is different for every server type. Click here for a list of different servers and instructions on how to find the Private Key on each of them.
By now it should be clear that finding your Private Key is dependent on where you generate your CSR. If you opted for SSLs Auto-activate or an online tool, the file should be saved somewhere on your personal device. If it was generated on the server, your Private Key should be stored safely there.
If you’re still having trouble with locating your Private Key, reach out to our customer service at any time and they can advise you on the best course of action to take.
Cora is a digital copywriter for SSLs.com. Having eight years of experience in online content creation, she is a versatile writer with an interest in a wide variety of topics, ranging from technology to marketing.
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Although validity periods on certificates have shortened, most IT professionals don’t frequently touch their TLS/SSL certificate configuration daily. Many touch their key material once a year or so — whenever they need to change certificates. Sometimes tracking and managing these certificates and corresponding key material can be difficult, leading to time spent hunting down the path where these items reside.
This post will help you locate your private key; the steps to do so vary by web server OS. We’ll cover the most common operating systems below, but first, let’s explain some basics about private keys.
All TLS certificates require a private key to work. The private key is a separate file that’s used in the encryption/decryption of data sent between your server and the connecting clients. A private key is created by you — the certificate owner — when you request your certificate with a Certificate Signing Request (CSR) . The certificate authority (CA) providing your certificate (such as DigiCert) does not create or have your private key. In fact, no one outside of your administrators should ever be given access to this material. We’ve seen an increase in instances where CAs have had to revoke certificates because admins have posted the keys to an online repository, like GitHub. Even if you don’t believe the site is transacting sensitive information, any exposure of the private key requires revocation of all corresponding certificates.
If you have not yet installed your certificate, then the most likely location of your private key is on the computer or server where you generated the key pair and CSR. When you generated the key pair, you saved two files: one that contains the public key and one that contains the private key. For OpenSSL , you can run the command openssl version –a to find the folder where your key files would be saved (/usr/local/ssl by default). On Windows (IIS), the OS manages your CSRs for you. You will first want to complete the request and then export the key (instructions below).
If your certificate is already installed, follow these steps to locate your private key file for these popular operating systems.
Your private key file’s location will be referenced in the main Apache configuration file, which is httpd.conf or apache2. conf. The directive SSLCertificateKeyFile will specify the path on your server where your key is stored.
OpenSSL, the most popular SSL library on Apache, will save private keys to /usr/local/ssl by default. You can run the command openssl version –a to find OPENSSLDIR, and confirm the folder where your server is saving keys.
You will be able to find the private key’s location in your site’s virtual host file. Navigate to the server block for that site (by default, within the /var/www/ directory). Open the main configuration file for the site and search for the ssl_certificate_key directive, which will provide the file path for the private key (some users have a separate configuration file for their SSL, such as ssl.conf).
On Windows servers, the OS manages your certificate files for you in a hidden folder, but you can retrieve the private key by exporting a “.pfx” file that contains the certificate(s) and private key.
Open Microsoft Management Console (MMC). In the Console Root expand Certificates (Local Computer). Your server certificate will be located in the Personal or Web Server sub-folder. Locate and right-click the certificate, identified by the Common Name, select Export and follow the guided wizard. This will give you a .pfx file. For detailed, step-by-step instructions, go here.
Depending on what you want to do with the private key, you may need to split the private key into a separate file by converting the .pfx. If you simply want to back up the key or install it onto another Windows server, it’s already in the right
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